Thursday, May 31, 2007

Logan's Roadhouse

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a new guest blogger! Courtney! She is best known as the editor of the (most awesome) Cooper-Young neighborhood newspaper, The Lamplighter. Let's give her a warm, dwm welcome!

Logan’s Roadhouse2710 N. Germantown Pkwy901-381-5254

For the last few months, my eyes have been drawn to the eye-catching sign hung outside the Logan’s Roadhouse next to Wolfchase. “12.99 Dinner for Two. Children’s Meals $2.” A quick confession, the Santo family is cheap (my husband would prefer I use the term frugal). This was a deal I wanted to try – a deal so good I might order two children’s meals instead of forcing my two and four year old to share. It is good only on Mondays and Tuesdays and I engineered a Memorial Day trip to the mall around suppertime.

“We could eat at the steakhouse,” I say casually as the kids play hide and seek in the racks of clothing at JC Penny. “They are supposed to have that deal.”

From deep in the racks of jeans I hear my youngest say, “French fries, nuggets.” This is followed by my daughter saying, “and chips, I want chips.”

After a long explanation about why I won’t allow a dinner of chips and French fries, we all agree to try the steakhouse. We pull in and realize it is pretty crowded, but this is a place with a giant tin bucket of peanuts in the middle of the waiting area. We get one of those fancy pagers and pull up a slice of bench next to a friendly older couple. The hostess, who is busy complaining that “they have the worst regulars ever” has told me 20-25 minutes, and having eaten out enough to know that’s what they always say, figure it will be 10-15 minutes.

I quickly realize that my two year old has no idea that you can’t eat peanut shells and after I finger-swipe a nasty bit of half eaten shell from my son’s mouth, I spend the next 15 minutes cracking peanuts and feeding them to the kids. That and the electronic jukebox keeps them pretty entertained – it helps that this is a place where they throw the peanut shells on the floor, so the level of good behavior expected is low.

Sooner than later we get seated and Brandy, our very efficient waitress shows up to take our drink orders. My husband is dying of thirst because he ate like 8,000 peanuts and he is happy his coke arrives quickly. We look over the $12.99 menu for two – basically you get your choice of one of the “Real American Road House Meals” and two sides. I look no further than the word “sirloin” while my husband hems and haws trying to decide between the fried catfish, grilled meatloaf and chopped sirloin steak. Once he finally decides on the grilled meatloaf, he has to pick two sides from a list of 14. We’re a pretty starchy group and I pick the mashed potatoes and French fries, while he goes with French fries and onion petals. Our daughter has decided on the Mac and Cheese, which is what she always gets and I’ve decided not to order a meal for my son, figuring he’ll just eat my French fries.

Brandy returns to take our order and at the last minute I decide to order the chicken strips kids meal for my son. It is only $2. The kids menu is pretty much what you’d expect – Chicken Tenders, Hot Dog, Hamburger, Grilled Cheese, Mac and Cheese, and Steak Tips. Each comes with fries and a drink. We didn’t substitute anything for the fries, but Brandy seemed confident that it could be done (say if Stacey wanted to pick the grilled veggie side instead).

In addition to the bucket of peanuts at our table, we also were given a basket of freshly baked rolls, which were good. The best table rolls I’ve ever had are at a place called the Golden Corral, which I think only exists in Virginia. So far I’m impressed with Logans. I thought we’d have to wait longer for rolls and to place our order because the place is packed. Lots of people around us seem to be waiting on their food and they were all there way ahead of us. But just minutes after the two or three tables around us get served, out comes our food.

I ordered my steak medium rare and it came out rare – but I didn’t send it back because I actually like it rare. But they checked to make sure I was happy and offered to re-cook it. I liked the pepper and salt seasonings on the steak – it was much simpler than the horror spice mix Outback uses. The fries were okay, a little limp and the mashed potatoes were delicious

My husband seemed to like the grilled meatloaf okay, he ate it all and the onion petal came with dipping sauce, which was nice. My daughter’s mac and cheese looked delicious and it was not Kraft (unlike at Boscos). She ate most everything, which is impressive, since she also filled up on peanuts and rolls. My son’s chicken tenders looked like classic Sysco fare, but he enjoyed them and his fries.

Brandy kept our drinks filled and gave us a second basket of rolls. She also didn’t mind a mid-meal decision to get Sprite instead of water for one of the kidlets. Our check came promptly – and was the real treat of the evening. Less than $25 with tip.

In summary, I would recommend Logan’s to meat lovers, anyone looking for a good deal, and folks who don’t mind a basic kid’s meal menu).